Name chosen for Vermillion pool
The city of Vermillion has decided on a name for its soon-to-be-opened swimming pool in Prentis Park. The new pool will be called the “Prentis Plunge.”
The name was selected from more than 100 submissions that were made during a contest in early February, which was then narrowed down to four finalist names.
The name Prentis Plunge was submitted by several different people, said James Goblirsch, director of Vermillion’s Parks and Recreation department.
“Multiple people put in a variation of it – ‘Prentis Park Plunge,’ ‘Prentis Plunge,’ ‘The Plunge Pool,’ so there was multiple people that put that (name) in,” Goblirsch said. “I think people were trying to stay with the P-P, it rolls off the tongue a little bit better.”
The final decision was made early this month in a community vote.
Ryan Beadke, Parks and Recreation supervisor, said the other three finalist names included the “Spirit Mound Splash,” the “Vermillion Municipal Aquatic Center” (or VMAC for short) and the “Dakota Plunge.”
John Prescott, Vermillion’s city manager, said Prentis Plunge got most of the 459 votes cast, receiving 184 votes. Behind it were Dakota Plunge with 133 votes, Vermillion Municipal Aquatic Center with 97 and Spirit Mound Splash with 45 votes.
“Something about it must have been catchy,” Beadke said.
Barring any unforeseen problems, the city is hoping to have the $5.3 million dollar pool open by the beginning of the summer.
“We’re hoping to be open early June, and that’s if construction continues as planned, and is completed by the end of May,” Beadke said.
Work on the pool has been virtually non-stop since it began last summer.
“They have been going at it since the middle of July last year, with limited breaks…” Beadke said. “It’s starting to look like a pool, you can see the slides are up. It’s fun, there’s more and more stuff being visible and you can tell it’s a pool as the days go by.”
When completed, Beadke said there will be a daily admission fee of $5, and it will be open roughly between late May and Labor Day. This means the season will run longer than in previous years.
“We’ve never been open that late before, so hopefully we can get enough staff to do that,” he said. “Normally we used to close about the time school would start.”
